US3747165A

US3747165A - Instant emergency fan belt replacement kit

Info

Publication number: US3747165A
Application number: US263739A
Authority: US
Inventors: K Brown
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-06-09
Filing date: 1972-06-09
Publication date: 1973-07-24
Anticipated expiration: 1990-07-24
Also published as: ATA509473A; FR2188739A5; IT979962B; NL7307993A; AT333551B; DE2328675A1

Abstract

A fan belt kit for instant use in an emergency when a fan belt breaks on a motor vehicle or on industrial machinery. The kit consists of a double cinch buckle of soft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction belting, a cutting instrument, instruction sheet and a gallon of water. It is usually stored in the trunk of the vehicle or in the maintenance room of a shop, factory or laboratory. The buckle and belting are sized to fit the pulleys in use. A single-edged razor blade performs well as the cutting instrument and occupies little space. A gallon of distilled water serves well as the coolant since it may also be drunk or used in the car battery if so needed. The double cinch buckle is fitted with a retainer cover to confine the two spiral-ribbed rollers when placed in their slots at assembly. The belting is cut off at needed length, then threaded around the pulleys and the tag ends are threaded up through the slots in the bottom ends of the buckle, then the two tag ends are pulled outward with the hands to cinch up the belt snugly around the pulleys in a jiffy and your machine is ready to operate again. It''s a cinch.

Description

United States Patent [191 Brown [451 July24,1973

[ INSTANT EMERGENCY FAN BELT REPLACEMENT KIT [76] Inventor: Roland Clough Brown, 425 Stratford Ct., Del Mar, Calif. 92014 [22] Filed: June 9, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 263,739

Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin [57] ABSTRACT A fan belt kit for instant use in an emergency when a fan belt breaks on a motor vehicle or on industrial machinery. The kit consists of a double cinch buckle of soft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction belting, a cutting instrument, instruction sheet and a gallon of water. It is usually stored in the trunk of the vehicle or in the maintenance room of a shop, factory or laboratory. The buckle and belting are sized to fit the pulleys in use. A single-edged razor blade performs well as the cutting instrument and occupies little space. A gallon of distilled water serves well as the coolant since it may also be drunk or used in the car battery if so needed. The double cinch buckle is fitted with a retainer cover to confine the two spiralribbed rollers when placed in their slots at assembly. The belting is cut off at needed length, then threaded around the pulleys and the tag ends are threaded up through the slots in the bottom ends of the buckle, then the two tag ends are pulled outward with the hands to cinch up the belt snugly around the pulleys in a jiffy and your machine is ready to operate again. Its a cinch.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEU JUL 24 ms 3. 747. 165

WMS ANT EMERGENCY ifi 1 INSTANT EMERGENCY FAN BELT KIT The instant invention relates to a new and useful improvement in a fan belt replacement, and is more particularly concerned with instant replacement by the operator of the vehicle on the road or machine when a fan belt breaks remote from repair facilities.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an instant replacement for the broken fan belt that may be installed by the operator in a few minutes on the roadside in such an emergency situation.

In conjunction with the above object, it is also a significant object of the instant invention to provide a means to proceed on your journey to the nearest repair facility at the next crossroad or exit from a thruway without the need of a wait and a tow.

Likewise, a significant object of the instant invention resides in the savings in time and expense that normally results from these unfortunate circumstances.

A further object of the instant invention saves the impulsive operator from proceeding to the next repair facility running hot with grave danger to the engine.

Basically, the instant invention provides for the utilization of an instant emergency fan belt kit, carried along in the trunk of the vehicle and consisting of the following articles: double cinch buckle, made of soft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction emergency belting, single-edged GEM razor blade, illustrated instruction sheet, and a gallon of distilled water. Such an emergency kit is as much a must for all vehicles with fans as the spare tire and occupies less space. The double cinch buckle can be used over and over again. There is significant belting 25' on the spool to cover the life of the vehicle. All of these articles may be purchased separately after the initial kit supply of any item becomes depleted which may happen with a commercial vehicle. It will prove a boon to farmers and military vehicles in isolated situations.

Likewise, the instant invention frees you from dependence upon a friendly motorist, a kindly highway patrolman or an emergency service patrol car. You may drive with assurance that you can reach reasonable destinations or the nearest repair facility under your own power and without extra expense. You remain the master in a bad situation when the elements are against you like heat, the desert, cold, snow and ice, rain, hail, wind, etc., to mention just a few when your fan belt breaks.

These together with other objects and advantages will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of assembly and operation as more fully heeinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like letters and numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. I is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on planes, passing through section line 11 in FIG. 3 to produce what is essentially a side view of the double cinch buckle;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on planes, passing through section line 22 of the left half of the view, and passing through section line 33 on the right half of the view, in FIG. 1 to produce what is essentially an end view of the double cinch buckle and showing pulley P rim in phantom;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, half cross-sectional, view taken on planes passing through section line 4-4 in FIG. 1

to produce what is essentially a bottom view of the double cinch buckle; and

FIG. 4 is a small scale front view in phantom of an assembled fan belt, its double cinch buckle in position for operation, snugly-fitted around the pulleys on the fan, alternator and engine drive shaft with radiator, vent and radiator cap in the backgound.

Referring now more specifically to the drawing, in FIGS. ll, 2 and 3 the double cinch buckle body I has two slots at its bottom ends for receiving the ends of the nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction emergency belt 2 and cam slots on both sides for receiving spiral-ribbed rollers 3, confined in the slots by retainer cover 4, allowing ease of assembly of the double cinch buckle, and in FIG. 4 in phantom is shown an assembly of the double cinch buckle connecting the ends of the nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction emergency btlt in position around the pulleys of the alternator A, engine E, and fan F, all in front of radiator R with vent V and cap C.

Use of the instant emergency fan belt kit arises in the following situation when driving: The operator notes a heating up of the car and glances at the temperature gauge. The needle is rising toward the boiling point on the gauge. Suddenly, as the needle reaches this point, a puff of steam is seen at the front of the car emerging from the radiator and drops of water appear on the hood and often splash back on the windshield. This is the telltale sign to pull to the right off the road as soon as traffic permits and stop. Shut off the engine immediately. Get out of the car and open the hood. Examine the fan belt area and if, as expected, the fan belt is broken and fallen off, you have located your trouble. Reach down between the radiator and the engine and remove the broken fan belt. Place it in the car. Open the trunk and take out the safety witch hat and place it well back of the car along the road to warn other drivers. At night with vehicle lights on, place a red flare instead of the witch hat and turn on your flashing signals. Take the emergency fan belt kit along with a flashlight at night from the trunk and proceed as follows, following the illustrated instruction sheet:

Unreel 4 feet of belting from the spool and cut off with razor blade. Thread belting into the double cinch buckle on one end, allowing about 6 inches to lap out above and retainer cover. Thread the other end of the belting under the pulley of the engine drive shaft, then up over the fan pulley, while holding the double cinch buckle end over and above the alternator pulley. Thread the loose end into the other end of the double cinch buckle in the straight run of belting between the fan and the alternator pulleys. Grasp the tag ends of the belting, one in each hand, and pull the hands apart causing the belting to tighten up around all pulleys until a snug fit is obtained. The belting will pull out to tighten it, but will not loosen it, because the spiral-ribbed rollers go into action and bind the belt from loosening, in effect, you are cinching up the belt. The tag ends are then bobbed to about 1 inch length so as not to catch on anything while the belt is moving in its path over the pulleys. The radiator is now a bit cooler than before and the cap is carefully removed by first loosening it and allowing any steam and boiling water to escape and then finally removing it so that the water lost in boiling may be replaced from the gallon of distilled water on hand. The cap is then replaced, and if the hose on the radiator cap vent is blown off, it is picked up from where it has fallen in the space between the radiator and the engine and reconnected by forcing the hose over the vent tube end. The operator then starts the engine, running it slowly, and watching the temperature gauge to see the needle return to its normal position well below the boiling point. The operator then inspects the running engine to see that the fan belt is running smoothly as expected and that all pulleys are turning. If so, he closes the hood, picks up the instant emergency fan belt kit, containing the spool of remaining belting, the illustrated instruction sheet, the razor blade and the gallon jug of distilled water as well as the safety witch hat and places them all in the trunk, closing the trunk. At night he extinguishes the red flare and turns off his flashing signals in the car. The operator then continues on his journey or to the nearest repair facility to obtain a new fan belt.

At the repair facility the instant emergency fan belt is cut off with the razor blade when the mechanic is ready with a new fan belt to replace the broken one. The broken one from the car is handed to the mechanic to help identify the replacement belt size needed. The double cinch buckle is unthresded from the useless belting and returned to the instant emergency fan belt kit for another possible use in the future. There is no need to hurry to the repair facility if conditions do not warrant. The operator may proceed on his journey for some distance without replacing the emergency belt as, for example, when he has an appointment, or facilities are not found in the immediate vicinity, or it is nighttime or a holiday and repair facilities are closed, or, in the case of a foreign car, no replacement belt can be obtained except at a foreign car repair facility usually only found in larger centers. Foreign car operators carry an extra fan belt along in the trunk to avoid this situation. In any event the operator need not worry as the instant emergency fan belt will run for a long time before it will wear out and break and, in this case, he still has more belting available in the instant emergency fan belt kit for immediate use.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a unique system of instant broken fan belt replacement has been devised by means of an inexpensive fan belt kit and a gallon of distilled water which also may be used to drink or for the car battery. Incidentally, while not detailed above, the kit should find ready use in any broken belt situation in a shop, on the farm, almost anywhere where belts connect driver and driven pulleys, if only the proper size instant emergency fan belt kit is kept on hand for use when needed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact fabrication and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to as, for example, beltconnected drives of industrial machinery in factories, shops, appliances, office machines, power tools and commercial vehicles, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An emergency fan belt connector comprising a double cinch buckle provided with a bottom, top, and side walls and having a pair of longitudinally spaced slots thru the bottom thereof adapted to each threadable receive an end portion of an associated emergency fan belt of sufficient length to enable hand holds at the free ends thereof for cinching it up snugly around all pulleys to be interconnected, said side walls having cam slots therein for guiding clamping rollers retained therein into binding relationship with said belt ends when the belt ends extend thru the said spaced slots in generally parallel opposed relationship to each other, and cam slots having portions thereof converging towards the top end portions extending longitudinally generally parallel to the top.

2. The connector of claim 1 wherein said top is removably secured to the connector, said clamping rollers are spirally-ribbed, and said fan belt is formed from nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction belting.